A Superfluous Rescue Operation
by Thrushsong k'Varis
Summary: Shinichi gets kidnapped...luckily, Agasa finished upgrading his watch yesterday.


Shinichi inched cautiously down the unfamiliar hallway, senses straining for anything to indicate that there was another person in the house. He'd managed to surprise his kidnapper, who hadn't expected him to have regained consciousness yet, and darted him with his watch. After that he'd managed to lock the man inside the room where he'd awakened.

With his attacker temporarily out of commission, he was warily investigating the house for possible accomplices. Shinichi suspected (based on the array of weapons he'd removed from his kidnapper) the man was, in fact, the serial killer Division One had been searching for. He really should probably be trying to contact someone…

A loud creak sounding form downstairs was followed by a muffled hissing, and Shinichi froze again, eyes darting around in search of a hiding place, preferably one he could use to observe the stairs. His eyes alighted on a solution and he moved near silently to his chosen spot, easing the door open and slipping through as soon as the opening was wide enough before pulling it almost shut behind him.

Vehement curses and the sound of a door rattling loudly had Shinichi freezing; the sedative must have worn off, meaning if the noise downstairs had been an accomplice they were now aware something had gone wrong. It would be too much of a risk to open the door enough to observe the potential accomplice; they would be on alert now. He could hear footsteps approaching and tried to breathe as quietly as possible as they went slowly past where he was hidden. Two sets of footsteps, the heavier following just behind the lighter as they continued down the hallway, and Shinichi cursed mentally as he heard a third set reach the top of the stairs and stop. Whoever was there would be watching the hallway, and Shinichi wished they would talk so he could have at least _something_ to work with.

The hallway suddenly erupted with noise—crashes and shouting all blending together to make the sounds undecipherable—what was going on? Straining his ears, he thought he could hear the person nearest the stairs calling down the hall—words still indistinguishable against the racket farther down—and the voice moved to join the others. Barely daring to breathe, ready to move at a moment's notice if he was wrong, he opened the door just enough to peer through—Yes! The stairway was empty!

Seizing his chance, Shinichi darted down the hall, not bothering to look behind him—if he was spotted, the best he could do was give himself a head start—he practically flew down the staircase—

—and tripped to a halt as he registered the room full of Division One officers. He blinked in confusion as they collectively gaped at him. He'd just hidden from the police, hadn't he? Wondering how they'd managed to find him—he still didn't actually know where he was, and he hadn't even been tracking a lead for the killer when he'd been kidnapped…had they been looking for him at all? It would certainly explain the utter confusion if they hadn't—he was distracted by Chiba-keiji rushing towards him looking relieved.

"Kudo-kun! Are you all right? What happened? If Ran-chan hadn't called Sato to ask if you'd run into another case we might not have known you were even missing! Luckily Hattori-kun said he knew someone who might be able to track your location! Ah, that looks like a nasty bruise, here you should sit…"

As the officer steamrolled over his protests (really, he was fine, it barely hurt at all) Shinichi was herded over to a seat and all but shoved down to 'rest'. In between fending off hovering officers, he managed to find out that Hattori had called Haibara (his 'scientist friend' was unlikely to be anyone else) who had tracked his phone to the house. Apparently they'd found it in the kitchen trash bin. It took far too long to convince Chiba-keiji that he wasn't grievously injured (I knocked him out before he could do anything, no of course I don't have a concussion, it's my arm that's bruised, not my head!) and wasn't about to fall over.

The officer's next question was interrupted by footsteps thundering down the stairs and a familiar voice stating, "Right, th' upstairs is clear, Sato-keiji an' Takagi-keiji got th' guy we heard, but no sign of—Kudo?!"

"Yo, Hattori."

The Osakan sputtered for a moment before glaring at him, "Th' hell's goin' on, Kudo?"

Making a placating gesture, Shinichi swiftly explained how he'd been kidnapped by the serial killer ("Ya were WHAT!?"), managed to dart his kidnapper and escape, "…and then I heard something downstairs and hid, the guy woke up and I ran down here while you three were distracted arresting him."

Hattori stared at him for a minute in disbelief before starting to grin, "Only ya, Kudo, got weird enough luck ta be kidnapped by a serial killer an' get away without bein' injured."

~S~

After reluctantly allowing himself to be dragged to the nearest hospital to be looked over, (and a quick call to Haibara to inform her he was uninjured) Shinichi was free to go back to his day…which meant he needed to see Ran. It took most of the day to reassure his best friend that he was fine, and the guy who'd kidnapped him had already been caught. Shinichi hated to make her worry; especially since he knew she was still afraid he might disappear again. He smiled wryly when she admitted that she'd called his parents hoping they had showed up unexpectedly and he hadn't been able to call her, and started talking about the various times his parents had sprung random outings on them as kids in hopes of improving her mood. By the time he left after dinner, Ran was smiling cheerfully again and threatening revenge if he started getting too caught up in cases to meet up with her.

~S~

Later that night, Shinichi's head snaps up from his book at the sound of an excited squee just in time to see his mother imitating a missile aimed in his direction. He barely has time for shocked recognition before he's nearly knocked out of his chair as she glomps him and holds on as if he's about to disappear. Shinichi's automatic protest (he's still a bit bruised, and she's holding him tightly enough to hurt) is stifled before it's more than a half-formed noise as he catches sight of his father standing in the doorway looking relieved. They probably had only listened to Ran's call long enough to hear he'd been in danger before hanging up and getting on the next flight back to Japan. Wondering how he'd managed to forget to call them, Shinichi resigns himself to being smothered for a few days by his parents and gently returns his mother's hug.

* * *

A/N: This is an expansion of a drabble I posted a while ago, so if the last paragraph is familiar to you that's why. The entire thing was written because I wanted to write Hattori's comment about Kudo having bizarre luck...anyway, hope y'all enjoyed reading, and let me know what you thought!


End file.
